mark skinner

Bjorn , I have always been intrigued by throat singing and how it's done. It seems very easy for several bird species , especially cow birds , and it seems like the sound created by a good didgeridoo player. Most of the examples I've heard have been pitched real low with a phased drone sound. I've never heard it pitched up like in the samples you've presented. Now I'm even more intrigued , if it is possible in that register. I enjoyed the song , pretty experimental .. mark

Jesse , I Really like the hypnotic feel you've got going on this one. I especially liked the drums and well played bass track. I also think the FX on your vocals was Very nice! I do think the ending was abrupt. This is probably my favorite experimental track you've posted. Enjoyed it . mark

Bruce , this is a Great well written song ! I am Really liking the guitar tones and the execution. Very nice playing. I think the vocals could come up a "little" bit , and I was for sure wanting to hear some more of the "Hey" sections come in and with an added higher harmony note. Fantastic job ! I Loved the mainstream feel of this one .. mark

@Wookiee @Bajan Blue @DeeringAmps Thanks guys for the positive feedback! @Jesse Screed Yes , I used my Takamine Ltd direct in. I tried using an acoustic impulse response with it but the old DSP preamp sounded much better. I'm still working on some vocal parts thanks to some pm help from @noynekker When I'm done with this last mix , I'll just tag it but won't bump it up again. You guys are Awesome. Thank You .. mark - Latest Mix - https://soundclick.com/r/s8n2t0

I've done some work on the vocals and a good bit on the drums. There's a lot more variations on the main drum pattern and some minor accents added. It's not so robotic and annoying now. Thank You for your input. New EQ/panning/New master. Appreciate your help .. mark -The top song link now also reflects the remix-

@noynekker Thanks for the input , I spent a good amount of time on the guitars until I got them sitting right. The high harmony was a little out of my range on the top note and I just missed it. Soloed it sounds weak and just Bad. I now have used the middle harmony high notes and built the part in melodyne. It sounds a Lot better now. I also adjusted a couple of the middle harmony notes. I Really appreciate you directing me to the problem area. (Gone Hollywood remix?) @DeeringAmps Thanks for weighing in. The annoying drum parts are on my end. I was too robotic and without velocity changes. I found some old videos showing Mic playing the drums and I'm now pretty Deep into editing my drum tracks. (tedious) @Bapu Thanks for the comment and drum suggestion. The toms may be a good way to break it up a little , if done right and in the right sections. I'll for sure give it a try. Thanks .. I'll update the mix before long . mark

Thanks Rick , I agree about the drums but at least I didn't put in the 16 second kick drum intro.. I also realized that I didn't turn off my headphone EQ offset in the master bus before exporting. I may redo my mastering pretty soon if I get any mix suggestions . Thanks for the listen .. mark

Great track brought forward at the right time. I thought the breaks after the bridge were awesome. I also thought the drums were Fantastic. Great job by everyone. Enjoyed it .. mark

Hello , my younger brother and biggest fan , thought this song would be a good fit for me and suggested that I try to cover it. I tried to give it more of a laid back feel than in the original. I hope you enjoy it , any and all crits and suggestions are welcomed. Thanks .. mark - Final Mix-

Peter , That was Awesome ! It sounded like All of you poured your emotions into the performance. I Loved it .. mark

Chamlin , If I had that many tracks of random "s" problems , I would for sure first try and tame it with EQ. Throw a narrow band on , jack it way up and sweep around until you find a common frequency for the problem areas , then notch it way "down". Listening to your example it sounds to me like more of a whistling problem than a normal example of needing de-essing , and it's probably going to be pretty high. This has been a new problem for me as a recent denture wearer. The Real tedious way would be to cut and edit out the offending areas. If you Identify a common EQ for the problem you could also use a multi band compressor or even better a dynamic EQ module to drop the frequency only when it hits hard. A good and reliable VST for removing sounds is Reafir . A free Reaper plugin that works well in Cakewalk. You just isolate the area, loop it and build a noise profile that it will remove thru out the track. It's good for fan noise , a humming preamp etc .. Videos online for setting it up. Good luck .. you have a nice voice for narration . mark

Great job Andy ! This song has always been a favorite of mine . I always thought it had a very nice and easy to listen to melody line and you covered it Well. The piano and the guitar break were Very Nice. My only crit is the lowered key , and the high pitched vocals was kind of the signature sound of this song. Lowering the key is something I have to do Quite frequently so , For Sure I understand. At some point in the future I'd try doing it higher at least to the point of you having to dig in a little for the higher notes. Only takes a second to raise the key on a midi piano. As it is I enjoyed it Very much. mark

Cool . There were some Really nice sounds here and just the right amount of tension. I especially liked the Blade Runner sounding horns. Enjoyed it .. mark

Pete , Fantastic guitar work. I also thought the drum track was Very well performed . I sure didn't hear anything needing attention (playing wise) on the drums. Great Job , I enjoyed All of it. mark

Tom , the last time I wore a girdle , I had fractured ribs. I kinda liked it .. mark

Great change at the 2 min. mark. This song surely deserves further attention. Very well written and sung. Very Nice .. mark

What a Fantastic song and production! I Really enjoyed the vocals with the tasty harmonies. The lo-fi production really gave this a classic feel. I think it would also be nice to hear it cross fade into a hi-fi production around 1:46 , boosting the power and opening it up for a bigger finish. Just a thought if you ever get bored .. Enjoyed it .. mark

I thought this was a very soothing track. Very nice vibrato on the sax notes. I also Really liked the lead guitar fx and tone. I enjoyed the composition. mark

Lukasz , welcome to the forum. The "tutorials" section here on the forum is pretty helpful for just about anything you want to do in Cakewalk by Bandlab. (CbB). mark

Bruce , Fantastic space around the "tight" instrumentation. I really liked the energy this one had from the beginning to the very end. You did a Steller job on the main vocals and also all the harmony. Superb job on everything ! If I were to tinker with anything , it might be to brighten the main vocal a little. The last chorus and outro seemed brighter , probably your singing changed a little as you went on. It also seemed to be leaning a little bit to the left ?? I reversed my headphones and the lean followed. I'm listening on a laptop with "not so flat" headphones , so the EQ suggestion may just be my monitoring. Anyway .. Great writing and performance ! Loved it mark

Rik , I Really appreciate the Bladerunner feel of this one. There was some Great music on the movie soundtrack , and you captured the feel of it nicely. Enjoyed it .. mark

Hello , "I surrender" and I am calling this one done. Any further changes won't be submitted. The link at the top now reflects my last mix. Thanks to "all of you" for your time and support , it Really keeps me going .. mark

@steve@baselines.com @KSband @Millzy @Bajan Blue @noynekker Thanks guys for weighing in and commenting I Really appreciate it. And yes Bruce , I've always been a Ray Charles fan but have never done any of his songs. I've thought about "Georgia" a few times. I did a melodyne session this morning on the vocal track. I think I'm happy with it now and will repost a new mix after I sit on it a couple of days. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to check this one out. mark

Smooth .. and relaxing. I liked the clarinet solo , it really gave the song a nice soundscape. Enjoyed it .. mark

Rick , Great jamming . It's Fantastic to hear you again. Congrats on your long awaited comeback.. Enjoyed it .. mark